Power Yoga

{{Short description|Several forms of energetic vinyasa-style yoga}}

Power Yoga is any of several forms of energetic vinyasa-style yoga as exercise developed in America in the 1990s. These include forms derived from Ashtanga (vinyasa) yoga, namely those of Beryl Bender Birch, Bryan Kest, and Larry Schultz, and forms derived from Bikram Yoga, such as that of Baron Baptiste.

History

Power Yoga began in the 1990s with "nearly simultaneous invention" by two students of K. Pattabhi Jois, and similar forms led by other yoga teachers including Larry Schultz's Rocket Yoga.{{cite web |last=Pizer |first=Ann |title=Power Yoga History and Health Benefits |url=https://www.verywellfit.com/what-is-power-yoga-3566853 |publisher=Very Well Fit |access-date=28 April 2019 |date=8 January 2019}}

Beryl Bender Birch created what Yoga Journal calls "the original Power Yoga"{{cite web |title=Power Yoga |url=https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/types-of-yoga/power-types-of-yoga |work=Yoga Journal |access-date=28 April 2019 |quote=The original Power Yoga was developed and founded by Beryl Bender Birch, but is now a term used to describe many vigorous vinyasa styles.}} in 1995.{{cite book | last=Singleton | first=Mark | author-link=Mark Singleton (yoga teacher) | title=Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-19-539534-1 | oclc=318191988 | page=176}}{{Cite book | author=Birch | first=Beryl Bender |author-link=Beryl Bender Birch | date=1995 | title=Power Yoga: The Total Strength and Flexibility Workout | publisher=Simon and Schuster | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iwFEl6Oxex8C&q=beryl+bender+birch+power+yoga&pg=PA291 |isbn=978-0-02-058351-6}}

Bryan Kest, who studied Ashtanga yoga under K. Pattabhi Jois, and Baron Baptiste, a Bikram Yoga enthusiast, separately put their own spins on the style, and branded it. Neither Baron Baptiste's Power Yoga nor Bryan Kest's Power Yoga are synonymous with Ashtanga Yoga.{{cite web |last=Pizer |first=Anne |title=Power Yoga |url=http://yoga.about.com/od/poweryoga/a/power.htm|access-date=7 February 2013}} In 1995, Jois wrote a letter to Yoga Journal expressing his disappointment at the association between his Ashtanga Yoga, and the newly coined style "power yoga", referring to it as "ignorant bodybuilding".{{Cite web | title=A letter from Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois to Yoga Journal from November 1995 | url=http://aylibrary.blogspot.jp/2012/10/a-letter-from-srik-pattabhi-jois-to.html |publisher=Ashtanga Yoga Library | access-date=9 October 2014 }}

References

External links

There are several separate institutes which each teach their own forms of 'Power Yoga'.

[https://power-yoga.com/ The Hard & The Soft Yoga Institute] (Beryl Bender Birch)
[https://poweryoga.com/ Power Yoga] (Bryan Kest)
[https://www.baptisteyoga.com/ Baptiste Institute] (Baron Baptiste)

Category:Yoga styles